Democratic Groups Seek To Intervene in GOP Election Worker Lawsuit in Arizona
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday, Oct. 10, the Arizona Democratic Party and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Republican Party of Arizona against Maricopa County election officials. The lawsuit alleges that the county has violated the requirements of the Arizona Equal Access Statutes by imposing strict regulations on election workers and making it harder for Republicans to participate in election administration. The Republican plaintiffs assert that “11 Maricopa County voting centers during 7 the 2022 primary election did not have any Republican poll workers” and that the defendants “failed to contact federal, state, or county Republican Party officials to discuss and remedy any last-minute shortfall in Republican workers in the 2022 primary election.” Furthermore, the plaintiffs argue that Maricopa County has violated the equal representation requirements of the state’s Elections Procedures Manual of 2019 by imposing “onerous requirements” including “a minimum hours requirement” and a “minimum durational requirement” that deter “nearIy all citizens who would be willing to participate in the administration of elections.” Lastly, the Republican plaintiffs allege that Maricopa County election officials maintain “inhospitable working conditions” and fail “to organize a ‘bullpen’ of board appointees to backfill reasonably foreseeable vacancies.”
In the motion to intervene, the Arizona Democratic Party and DSCC argue that they “have a direct and substantial interest in preserving Maricopa County’s existing election rules against this attack.” The Democratic groups state “[a]ll Maricopa County election workers face the same hours requirements and working conditions. Proposed Intervenors have managed to designate poll workers who will do the job. If Plaintiffs have struggled to do the same, the answer is for Plaintiffs to improve their recruiting efforts, not to judicially mandate that the County change its job requirements for election boards.”